He’s the extra tree-restrial: Builder never tyres of not having any stairs

It looks like a scene from ET but there’s nothing spaced out about Ethan Schlussler.

The construction worker became so fed up with having to climb up a 8.5m (28ft) ladder to reach his tree house he built a bike elevator.

Mr Schlussler, 23, sits on the saddle and pedals and counterweights, ropes and pulleys lift him straight up.

Up, up and away: Off he goes into the tree house (Picture: SWNS)

Once at the top, he steps off and enjoys a bird’s eye view of the forest. To descend, he hops on and lets gravity take over.

Mr Schlussler, from Sanpoint, Idaho, said: ‘I knew I wanted to build something better than a ladder, and I was talking with a friend about various ideas for a human-powered elevator when he suggested using a bicycle.

Ethan e sits on the saddle and pedals – and a system of weights and pulleys does the rest (Picture: SWNS)

‘Of course, it’s not ‘‘safe’’, but neither is walking across the street. That said, almost every part of the system is many times stronger than necessary, and there is no single part that would make it free-fall if it broke.